Norton SystemsWorks for Mac for Switcher

switchfromdellswitchfromdell
Posted:
in Mac Software edited January 2014
On the surface, this SW appears to include most features I would need as I switch from PC to iMac 17 (expect to buy by early March)as indicated below:



Norton SystemWorks for Macintosh 2.0 Mac® is an essential suite which has five leading utility products in one convenient package-and they're all compatible with Mac OS X. Norton Utilities? helps you repair and optimize disks and prevent future problems. Norton AntiVirus? automatically finds and repairs infected files. Dantz Retrospect® Express Backup 5.0 copies files to a wide range of removable media. A special edition of Alsoft DiskWarrior® 2.1 helps you recover data in emergencies. And Aladdin Spring Cleaning® 4.0 safely removes old software.



I have used Norton for many years on PC with very good results. I especially concerned about antivirus since I would receive many E-mails with PC generated attachments and backup since I generate many business documents including spreadsheets with macros and functional commands.



But, reading various forums indicates some concerns and issues with Norton...NEED SOME ADVICE since I am not familiar with OS X,Mac SW, etc.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 4
    vandewaalsvandewaals Posts: 450member
    I am not very familiar with Norton SW myself, but like you I have heard MANY bad things about it. Something about the way it almost hijacks some parts of the system. Others on here will have far more knowledge than I (folks like Brad), but I have found that Virex is more than adaquet for virus protection, and that Apple's Disk Utility has been able to fix any problems I have had. DiskWarrior is supposed to be a better utility than Norton...and I believe an OS X native version of it will be available very soon.
  • Reply 2 of 4
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    I give Norton two thumbs down.



    There are SO many reports about how it causes more problems on OSX than it fixes. Norton used to work well in OS9, but on OSX it's junk. Problems vary from kernel panics to locked files to simply not being able to boot at all.



    Boo Norton.



    Just look at the user reviews of <a href="http://www.versiontracker.com/moreinfo.fcgi?id=9182&db=mac"; target="_blank">Norton SystemWorks 2.0 on VersionTracker.com</a>. The reviewers' average rating is 1.9 out of 5. That can't be a good sign, can it?



    VanDeWaals is right. Virex is more than sufficient for virus protection especially when you consider that there are ZERO viruses for Mac OS X. Then what do Virex and Norton AntiVirus do? They clean files of older Classic Mac OS viruses and Windows viruses. These viruses are completely benign on Mac OS X. They can not do a thing at all. Virex and Norton are just being "good citizens" by clearing the files in case you share then with other Windows computers or Classic Mac OS computers and so those other computers don't get the viruses.



    As for the disk repair part of Norton, I'd suggest waiting for Alsoft to release it's new version of DiskWarrior 3 (coming Real Soon Now) and geting that instead. DiskWarrior currently does not run native on Mac OS X; you have to boot from the CD it ships on (which is an OS9 CD). If you have an iMac, I believe this shouldn't be a problem because I *think* the iMacs will still boot into OS9. Anyhow, just to be safe I'd recommend holding off until 3.0 is released.



    And when I say it'll be released "Real Soon Now", I do mean real soon.







    [ 02-13-2003: Message edited by: Brad ]</p>
  • Reply 3 of 4
    switchfromdellswitchfromdell Posts: 101member
    [QUOTE]Originally posted by switchfromdell:

    [QB]On the surface, this SW appears to include most features I would need as I switch from PC to iMac 17 (expect to buy by early March)as indicated below:



    Thanks for excellent responses (VanDeWaals and Brad)...best to stick with Virex and Disk Warrior 3...Maybe could accomplish Virex and backup with .Mac??? is that good idea?
  • Reply 4 of 4
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    FYI, it looks like the new 17" iMacs indeed do not boot OS9 any longer.



    <a href="http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86209"; target="_blank">http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86209</a>;



    So, you definitely should not buy DiskWarrior until it is updated (I expect by the end of March, actually).



    As for using .Mac for backup, I don't really like the idea of trusting my important data to Apple's servers or anyone else's for that matter. I use my .Mac server space for hosting files to share on the internet like the picture I just posted above and for posting my iCal calendar. It I had a PDA of fancy cell phone, I'd probably use the iSync features too. For backups, though, I still prefer using hard media like CD-Rs.



    If you do plan on using Virex, though, the .Mac offer is a pretty good deal. You'll be entitled to free Virex updates as long as you're a member and if you decide not to resubscribe to .Mac in a year, you'll still be able to downloaded updated virus definitions for the app.



    [ 02-13-2003: Message edited by: Brad ]</p>
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